Consistency and Standardisation in Treasury Reporting: A Template-Driven Approach
Custom Template Report
Nov 2023
Standardisation Success
Background
In 2022, we embarked on a collaborative journey with a key government agency to tackle a growing challenge within their data reporting ecosystem. As the agency’s adoption of Power BI expanded, a critical need emerged: the creation of consistent, standardised, and accessible reporting products. Our mission was clear—develop a suite of Power BI templates that would serve as the backbone for uniformity across all reporting outputs, aligning with both accessibility and style guidelines specific to the agency’s needs.
The Problem
The widespread adoption of Power BI within the agency led to an unintended consequence: a proliferation of reporting products that varied significantly in quality, accessibility, and adherence to established guidelines. These inconsistencies not only diluted the agency’s brand integrity but also hampered user experience, collaboration, and the scalability of reporting practices. As Power BI’s footprint grew, so did the complexity of maintaining and updating these disparate reports.
Our Solution
To address this multifaceted challenge, we worked closely with agency stakeholders to fully understand their unique requirements. The result was a comprehensive suite of Power BI templates designed to standardise both interactive (dashboards) and static (paginated) reporting products. Additionally, we introduced a customised Power BI theme file, setting a new standard for data visualisation within the agency by ensuring uniformity in colours, fonts, and formatting across all reports and dashboards.
This initiative wasn’t just about aesthetics—it was about enhancing user experience and ensuring brand consistency across all reporting outputs.
Recognising the importance of smooth adoption, we also provided targeted training on leveraging these templates effectively, ensuring that agency staff could maximise the benefits of our solution from day one.
The Value Add
Our collaboration with the agency yielded significant advantages, encapsulated in four key areas:
- Design Once, Apply Everywhere – Our templates are engineered to set design standards once, then replicated across various reporting products, ensuring consistent quality and branding.
- Uniformity and Standardisation – By establishing a standardised framework for all reports, our solution guarantees a cohesive look and feel, enhancing both internal and external perceptions of the agency’s data reporting.
- Branding and Customisation – Tailored to meet the agency’s specific requirements, our templates uphold brand integrity while offering the flexibility to incorporate future branding changes and new features from Microsoft.
- Flexibility and Easy Maintenance – Our approach ensures that templates remain both flexible and maintainable, simplifying the incorporation of corporate branding shifts and the adoption of new functionalities.
In Conclusion
This project exemplifies our commitment to delivering innovative, practical solutions that elevate data-driven decision-making within the public sector. By creating a suite of templates that simplify design processes, enhance user experiences, and ensure consistency and alignment with branding requirements, we’ve set a new standard for reporting excellence. Our efforts have not only streamlined the reporting process but have also empowered the agency with the tools to maintain and build upon this foundation of consistency and standardisation in the years to come.
